Dragon Age: Origins Part One- Of introductions and role playing

Alas, the start of something I promised I’d start sometime in June 2012, as it’s currently December 2012 (the full dates have been added just in case I die of old age before I release part one of this and this has to be considered my will or a great religious epic that will be heavily misinterpreted) I figured It might be a good idea to start this thing. I'm going to try and keep this regularly updated, but you know how it is.

So Dragon Age: Origins (Expect me to be a little bit schizophrenic when referring to the title, DAO, DA:O, DAGE, DA1 and, of course, D to the ageizzle). For those of you that haven’t played it D to the ageizzle is a RPG created by BioWare about a month after the “Dark Times” otherwise known as Electronic Arts buying them out. DAO’s storyline is set in a medieval country called Ferelden (that is basically England) and focuses on ether a dwarf, human or elf (depending on what race & back story you choose) that gets entangled in a series of events that leads him, her or it (depending on your racial stance toward elf’s & dwarfs) on a journey that will see them become a member of a very prestigious order, meddle with the country’s politics and save a country from the brink of civil war. Surprisingly though, DA1 doesn't really suffer from the causal gamer syndrome that has plagued the other EA related RPG's. Mass Effect 2 &3, I’m looking at you. Just hope Shepard hasn't had enough of my disingenuous assertions.

Despite all the flak I have or will give Mass Effect it is at its core very similar to Dragon Age. In my opinion they are both character RPG’s. I also feel that Dragon Age’s story is a little less crazy banana’s stupid too, but that’s beside the point. And with that half assed segue, I’m getting a little closer as to why I think DA is good game, despite the terrible repetitive game play and stupid ass difficulty curve. It’s the characters. Same reason I bought every Mass Effect game, even though the Mass Effect series is very deeply flawed, again in game play  and even more so in terms of its story.

Let's Play S01E07: The Walking Dead- End Of Episode 1

Hey everybody, the next and last part of episode one of the walking dead has just gone live! Hope you enjoy it.

Let's Play: The Walking Dead Part Six - It's only a flesh wound

So, here I am again with another seemingly random update, at about 2:30 in the morning. Because that's just how I roll. More Walking dead, take it.

Let's Play: The Walking Dead Part Five- You Always Check The Batteries

Hello everyone, it's another one of those times where I randomly decide to post a video, because screw a schedule right? At the time of posting, I've finished recording and editing up to the end of episode one of the walking dead- and I've started recording another LP to bridge the gap- and I'm two episodes into that. You'll have to wait until it's out to see what it is, or at least until I mention in my video, if I do. I have no idea what I'm even doing.

Let's Play: The Walking Dead Part Four- Welcome Home

Hell guys, as some of you may of seen on Backseat GamingTV's blog- I've just released episode 3 of my LP, otherwise known as the last episode I was unhappy with. Today, however- I've got a treat for you guys. Since we're now up to date on both channels I'm just going to have to do something about that and release another video on here- episode 4 of The Walking Dead. Hope you guys have fun with it, and I hope you also like the new resolution- sadly it is still in SD, but it's much better than it was!

The Double.

Hey guys, just letting you know that due to the fact I'm not overly happy with my first 3 videos (just in terms of my failed editing) I'll be releaseing both part 2 & 3 of Let's Play: The Walking Dead- just to speed up getting to the videos I enjoy, I'll link to the videos on this post tomorrow. Watch this space!

It's a learning process redux

Hey guys, currently I've recorded 3 episodes of my LP and whilst I'm enjoying the game and I'm finding doing an LP a lot of fun, my editing skills are- well, not really skills at all. I'm trying to teach myself how to use my software and it's resulted in my ballsing up, only in one particular area though- the resolution. I've got a pretty small monitor, in ye olde resolution of 1024x768- it's a pain in the ass. I've been rendering all over the place to find the right size, and I just couldn't do it. Alas, I resigned to ask the guy behind the editing at BSGTV- Rick- and he quickly helped me come up with the best possible solution, until I can get a wide screen monitor that is. There will be a new video in the week sometime (who expected me to be organised, honestly?) but I'm afraid that the resolution and quality of the recordings won't be as I had hoped- but episode 4 will be!

The Walking Dead, Or The Current State Of My Computer

Hey everybody, at the time of writing this I'm just rendering the first part of my "The Walking Dead" LP, I've sort of winged the editing, I'm fairly new to it- so it might not work as planned, but I've got my fingers crossed. I've wanted to do a solo video LP for a very long time, but had always thought I wouldn't be the most interesting person to listen to- but after my time with Backseat GamingTV- I feel like I can manage a solo LP series, under the guise of Joypad Athletics. I won't be updating this series with any where near the punctuality of BSGTV- but if the first part comes out how I hoped it would, then I will certainly update it. At the time of writing this I've just bought episode two of the 5 part series, and I'm really enjoying the game. I wouldn't want to spoil any of the details, hopefully my LP will help you understand them! I'm not sure if I'll write a separate post for the video- if and when it's done- I may just add it in with once of those fancy bold EDIT:'s I've a little semi-important blog information I want to sort of ramble about, it'll be after the break. Thanks for reading.

EDIT: added the video, hope you guys enjoy it!

Fallout 3: Origins

Remember that time when I updated this blog frequently? Yeah, me neither. So, since I'm well on my way to having a PC capable of running Fallout: 3 at max settings and record along side it I've put a little more thought into what I plan on doing. My first thought was that I didn't fancy doing it on my own, I find I talk about games and any other media text better when I'm bouncing off of someone else, in the case of my planned Fallout: 3 LP if everything goes to plan that's going to be alongside my long term friend and hopefully long term member of Backseat GamingTV Devyn. For those of you that have seen some of BSGTV's work, you'll know that one of our first and as of the time of posting ongoing LP's happens to be Fallout: New Vegas. In contrast to that LP, I'm planning for this LP to be much more of a long term thing, I hope to cover all of the DLC and to be able to spend much longer on the game as a whole- opting for a less silly approach to the game.

On reading that back I feel I need to clarify what I mean by “less silly” I don't mean that Devyn and I will be being super serious mode, but we will be trying to build the best possible character and take you guys though the wasteland more or less the way the game intended. Not really going for 100%, but showing you guys what we consider to be the main load of the game and to talk about story and game design choices. I want to warn you all though, a lot of this is up in the air right now, nothing official has been decided as of yet and most of my “planning” hasn't left my mind, but it is definitely something I want to do- and Devyn has also expressed an interest in helping me complete an LP that I've wanted to do for a very long time.

However, for the mean time I would like to write about a game I've been playing recently- Dragon Age: Origins. At the time of writing, but I doubt at the time of posting, I'm nearly at the end (again) so I figured I would write a couple of posts about the game and just my general thoughts about it. This is by no means a written LP, it may very well turn into one- but I feel like I'm far to deep into the game at this moment in time, making writing up the LP very hard unless I started another file. This, after completing the game roughly 3 times- with all the DLC- isn't something I would be interested in at this time. Sadly, my copies of both Dragon Age: Origins & Dragon Age II are on the Xbox 360, I'm told this isn't a great way for them to be played, and I believe this wholeheartedly. As you may know, my PC pretty runs on a coal fire. In the future, it is possible I will attempt either a written or video LP of Dragon Age II.

I can't say when either of these future projects will go under way, both Dragon & Fallout related but I have every intention of doing them at some point. I hope you guys are still here when I do, despite how rarely I update this blog- I blog I do update, and very often at that, is the blog of Backseat GamingTV- I suppose that channel can now be considered my focus now, with this being in the back burner. However I can promise that both channels will always try to deliver quality content that you find entertaining and like enough to share with your family and friends.

Thanks for reading.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Part Eighteen- KILLSTEAL

It's finally here yay! This particular post may be a little bit longer than the others, I'm going to finish this LP today.  I haven't decided if I'm going to put my final thoughts about the game as a whole in this post or a separate one, I'll type it up and we'll see how long it ends up being. 


Anyway, after totally killing that one guy to death. I have to loot this wrist guards from him, without them I won't be to proceed into the grotto- the only path to Mankar. After killing a bunch of guards, or whatever- I met another friendly, he offers me the chance to leave this place because as it goes, I appear to be trapped unless the wrist guards are taken off, something I can't seem to do by myself. He informs me his plan, a plan that involves my completely trusting him and getting into a cage suspended above liquid hot magma after which he promises me he'll let me cross to the over side so we can meet up and remove those pesky wrist guards. Sounds legit.


I really expected, wanted even- for accepting this guys plan to kill me. It would of taken some balls to do, I mean if he just straight out killed me and the game sat there with a face like "Well? What did you expect you plum" I would of been far more impressed than if it worked, and of course- it did. After running around lost in this new segment of cave, I find Eldamil, as promised he removes my bands and I'm free to go. Heading up to the path to find Mankar, he continues to spout his nonsense inside my head, a point I've been neglecting to refer to because I really can't remember what it was he said- I'm sure its of no consequence.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Part Seventeen- The union of the mcguffins

Ah, it's been a while- about time I finally started to wrap this up.

So last time we left off we were right about here, we've just got ourselves into the great oblivion gate. It isn't much different at first glance, thought it is a little bigger and has a couple of unique- set pieces? At this point, I'm just bored of oblivion- if you hadn't guessed. If I had been slightly more interested in the world, rather if I hadn't had my interest drained, I would of enjoyed exploring this new area. But lol nope. Only 15 minutes left until the gate does exactly what we don't want it to do. I guess I had better hurry it up. I come across nothing out of the blue on my way to close the great gate, it's a slew of enemies I've seen and killed a thousand times, open a gate blocking my way and then press the self destruct button at the top of the tower- with 4 minutes to spare, just in time for dinner.

I meet Martin outside, we now have the means to finally recover that sweet sweet amulet he tells me he's off to prepare his ritual so we can- hopefully - kill the big bad.

As it turns out, when I took the stone from the top of the tower, I took two- I can't be sure but I think it does damage over time. Because I took two, and the second is still in my inventory and I'm taking damage over time. Thing is, I can't drop it- quest item and all. So hopefully I can complete the game with this debuff, because if not I'm going to have to put this LP on hold again, perhaps not ever pick it back up.

So debuff aside, I'm on my way to the temple. Martin is standing in the main room of the temple, with my two most recent mcguffin captures either side of him. He's about to open the portal for me, and it will close after I get inside. Killing the boss, Mankar, will let me lose of this place. I'm calling it now, I really think this place will look a lot like the inside of every other oblivion gate I end inside. I really hope it doesn't though.

Well, now there's egg on my face- it is different! Where I am is often called a paradise by the NPC's, I assumed it would be one of those hell on earth kinda of paradises that bad guys often dream up. but it really is a paradise. It's a lush green forest, albeit it's littered with bad guys that want to kill me- it certainly is a welcome change of scenery. As it goes, this paradise is a sort of training ground for anyone and everyone that died in service to Mankar. The disembodied voice of Mankar informs me that he's been expecting me. Sounds like he wishes to convince me to work with him, of course I won't- but I can't wait for him to try.

Blocking my path to Mankar, is a demon- one that talks to me, surprisingly enough. He believes I'm worth serving him, and gives me the choice to either serve or die (the kill him option). Guess what I did.

Sorry about that, again.

Remember that one time where I said I was going to try and produce more content, once I had etc etc? Yeah well, that didn't exactly pan out as I hoped. However, by no means does that imply that I'm finished, just leaving my blog to gather dust, if anyone is out there that still reads it. It's not going to help anyone to go into the reasons I neglected it, but I can say this- I've streamlined my ideas- trying to keep to one medium in particular, writing. At least, for Joypad Athletics. I've started a Youtube Channel- Backseat GamingTV- with 3 friends, 2 of them, you may remember from my first videos "Game nights" a third friend of mine, Jordan will also be joining us. At the time of writing we've roughly 11 videos uploaded to Youtube, with only one made public.

I'll be posting links to the Facebook etc somewhere on the website, I don't want to go into depth about what we're planning on doing- you can find all that here.

Almost forgot to post the actual link to our first video, enjoy!

I also don't really want to go into that much detail about what I'm planning to do with this blog, in case I don't update it as much as I'd like to- with the backseat gaming workload and other things that demand my attention. Thanks for reading guys, hopefully I'll speak to you soon.